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April 30, 2005 - Saturday

Star-Bulletin staffers sidestepped a confrontation by voting to table a move to reconsider their "voluntary" salary reductions.

One newsroom source commented:

Best possible result .... nothing.

The motion was tabled for the time being. It can be brought up again at any time. But the folks upstairs now know the natives are restless.

I suppose the next question is whether "the folks upstairs" give a hoot. Stay tuned.

The push for the so-called "clean elections" bill that would have provided public funding for candidates fell short again as conference negotiators failed to meet last night's deadline.

A press release by Hawaii Clean Elections issued overnight states: "Advocates can find no valid excuse for the legislators killing Clean Elections again."

The group hits legislators for failing to tap into an existing election fund to finance the first publicly funded election. But the inability to find a source of ongoing funding for what all admit would be a costly system certainly seems to me to be at least a "valid excuse" if not a substantive reason for declining to approve the measure, and there are others. I think the failure to "hear" and understand the opposition hindered the lobbying effort behind the "clean elections" move.

A long-time news pro wrote in reply to yesterday's entry:

"who died suddenly last week."

This has long bothered me in obits. Death is always sudden. It's like pregnancy--you're alive or your not. What we really mean is that someone died unexpectedly....

I responded:

Except that "suddenly" is partially synonymous with "unexpectedly", ie, Websters: "happening or coming unexpectedly".

"Suddenly", in this context, also signals more, "not the end of a long illness", different from "died after a long battle with" whatever.

Death is perhaps always "quick". You're alive or you're not. Is that the same as "sudden"? Unexpected?

I see your point, though, and I considered using "unexpectedly" before choosing "suddenly".

I'm not sure where that leaves the matter, but it's always interesting to think through things like this that are typically written without reflection.

And this is Mr. Duke's birthday. He appeared on the floor of my little office in town quite suddently, although not unexpectedly, sometime in the early morning hours of April 30, 2002. I found them several hours later when I got to town, and he's been a joy ever since. Here's the link to the background, if you haven't checked it out before. And if you want to get right to the April 30th birth, just click here.

April 29, 2005 - Friday

It was a sad day yesterday as friends and family gathered in a small Hawaiian church in Kalihi to say farewell to Amanda Kalahikiola Porter, daughter of former State Representative and women's advocate Annelle Amaral, who died suddenly last week.

No news yet about the outcome of the vote by Star-Bulletin newsroom employees on whether to continue "voluntary" salary reductions which have been in place since shortly after September 2001.

James Song's story on yesterday's occupation of Bachman Hall has been picked up by newspapers across the country and even by The Guardian in London, according to a quick sweep this morning on Google News.

Interest groups are battling to the final deadline over the so-called "Clean Elections" bill, to be considered again this afternoon in conference committee. The measure, HB 1713, is backed by a spectrum of community groups, including those that testified in the House earlier this session:

A Hawaii County Council member, Hawaii Clean Elections, League of Women Voters of Hawaii, Kokua Council, Sierra Club Hawaii Chapter, Hawaii State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Interfaith Alliance Hawaii, Life of the Land, Americans for Democratic Action, Hawaii Chapter, Sestak Rehabilitation Services, and numerous concerned individuals testified in support of this bill.

The bill is also backed by a resolution passed by the Oahu Democratic Party. According to an email distributed earlier this week:

Many of us who have carefully analyzed this bill, which is supported by a State DPH resolution, feel that this legislation passing this session will help us bring political campaigning back to our grass roots in 2006, capitalize on our numbers (Vs. the Republican's big money), and help us in building our Democratic Party.

Dems have been urged to pack the conference committee rooms, and offered T-shirts and signs to make their point.

Republicans have staked out a position against the bill for both political and philosophical reasons, and public opposition is being rallied by the Hawaii Christian Coalition, which has urged supporters to flood the legislature with communications opposing the bill as unconstitutional, expensive, and immoral.

It appears too close to call, with the final vote possibly going either way. Despite the heat at the capitol, the issue and its implications have received surprisingly little news coverage overall. For a bill designed to reshape the entire election process, a bit more attention might have been expected.

April 28, 2005 - Thursday

This 1970's-era Maytag ad is another "find" from the boxes of old papers I've been slowly sorting through. I saved it all this time because it was, and remains, so essentially American, so unapologetically and unself-consciously colonial in viewpoint. Here's the happy couple with dog, adopted daughter, and Maytag washer, as Mrs. Moats (no mere Ms. here)

click for larger version

She brags about her Maytag which, she says, "has traveled from the desert sands of North Africa to the jungles of Indonesia," following her husband, an oil company engineer, through postings to Libya and Indonesia. Gadhafi's revolution is nothing more than a test for her washer, which continued its 8-10 loads a week without a single repair.

Maytag. Stability. Made in Newton, Iowa. American at heart in the American heartland.

So I was struck by finding this ad tucked away carefully in an old box of papers just as the company's stock fell about 30% in two days and analysts are predicting the Maytag's possible demise and the potential closure of that famous Newton appliance factory. I don't own any Maytag stock, although at one time I bought and then sold some shares thinking, well, how can you go wrong on this solid American manufacturer?

It isn't just the end of an iconic American company. It somehow signals the passing of that whole far-above-the-fray simplicity of the American world view that particular Maytag advertisement managed to capture so eloquently.

Just something to think about on this Thursday morning. And this time it really is Thursday.

Speaking of the end of an era, it's hard not to be depressed by the conservative coup at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, where former FCC Chairman Michael Powell's right-hand man, Ken Ferree, has been installed as interim president.

Here's what he told the New York Times about the News Hour with Jim Lehrer:

Yes, Lehrer is good, but I don't watch a lot of broadcast news. The problem for me is that I do the Internet news stuff all day long, so by the time I get to the Lehrer thing . . . it's slow. I don't always want to sit down and read Shakespeare, and Lehrer is akin to Shakespeare. Sometimes I really just want a People magazine, and often that is in the evening, after a hard day.

So we've got a publicly funded People to look forward to as they strive to attract conservative viewers?

This week's CounterSpin radio program by the watchdog group, FAIR, features a segment on CPB and Ferree. We heard the broadcast last night, but the audio program is available for download.

April 27, 2005 - Wednesday

Oh, boy, those kittens are taking a toll. If you got here earlier, after the 4 a.m. feedikng, you found today's double entry complete with label of Thursday for the repeat. Sleep deprivation.

Here's a bit of trivia that provides some insight into Star-Bulletin owner David Black. It's a 1994 article in the Ryerson Review of Journalism about the newspaper war in Victoria (B.C.), where an alternative news weekly ("Monday Magazine") had been battling "Victoria News", owned by Black. Don't be confused by the 2004 date that displays with the online version--it is actually dredged up from their archive of back issues.

At that point in time, Black had ceased publishing his weekly and was considering options.

Black, meanwhile, disputes (Monday publisher Andrew) Lynch's estimate of his company's worth and says that Monday's problem, like that of all alternative weeklies, is its editorial stance: "If your editorial mission in life is to prick the egos of mainstream corporations, you are always annoying advertisers and you can only grow so big."

Today, a decade later, Black's Island Publishers owns Monday, which ran into trouble last year over the firing of political reporter Russ Francis.

One story at the time noted:

This morning (Thursday, Feb 25, 2004) Jim Tighe, president of Monday's parent company Island Publishers Ltd. was asked on CBC radio if this "signals a change in direction for Monday". Tighe answered "the political coverage will not be as intense as it might have been."

Meanwhile, back here at the Star-Bulletin, members of the Newspaper Guild are preparing to vote tomorrow on whether to continue a "voluntary" salary reduction reluctantly accepted in the aftermath of 9/11.

One observer who asked to remain anonymous offers this assessment:

Star-Bulletin staffers are facing a crucial union vote Thursday about whether to continue the wage rollback. Emotions are runniung hiugh in the office, particularly since management has promised to lay off 20 percent of the staff if the vote passes.

Several people agitating for the vote have a "Fuck 'em, more money for the rest of us" approach. They don't realize, apparently, that their job description will change to cover the losses in personnel. Column writers will become clerks, etc.

On the other hand, it's been 3.5 years with no end in sight. Management has consistantly refused any sort of consideration for the terrible financial sacrifice the staff has made to keep the paper alive. Even though the sacrifice was made to prevent layoffs, the folks upstairs have still managed to lose approximately 15 percent of the staff in the last 4 years to attrition. And Star-Bulletin management has shown in the past that it will simply lie and stonewall and lay off personnel anyway for purely punitive reasons.

It doesn't help that most Star-Bulletin editors may be talented journalists but lack rudimentary management skills. They simply aren't leaders.

Resources are just beginning to open up thanks to changes in the economy but Dennis Francis has pledged not to restore even a small portion of the "voluntary" salary cuts. As for David Black, he has bigger problems right now than a distressed staff in faraway Honolulu.

The staff is fatigued, angry, poorly managed and broke. It will probably be a close vote either way.

With less than a year to go before expiration of the Guild's contract, this vote will send signals about the mood of the staff at the start of negotiations. And, either way, this must be music to the ears of Gannett execs just up at the other end of South Street.

April 26, 2005 - Tuesday

Over the weekend, I was ruminating over the flap raised by Clayton Hee's hostile and apparently inappropriate questioning of UH Board of Regents nominee John Kai, and reporting on the incident left me wondering about the politics of the matter.

The fact that Clayton is immediately starting to be the public bully doesn't surprise me, since he earned his bully stripes as Senate Judiciary chair during his first stint in the Senate years ago, and carried that same behavior over to OHA when he served as chairman. Although his behavior embarrasses me as a Democrat in his district, you can't say it's not like Clayton. It's the way he's always been.

But it seems unlikely that this all just personal. He can act like an ass, but a calculating one.

Hee could be doing this as a threat to his colleagues, sort of "stay out of my way or I'll do the same thing to you" type of thing. As a relative old-timer returning as a Senate freshman, raising a ruckus may be his way of demonstrating political macho and attempting to raise his status in the Democratic caucus.

He could be playing to some constituency that isn't apparent to me, keeping in mind his ambitions for higher office. Perhaps there's a colleague in the Senate that he's fronting for in order to collect a future IOU.

He could be simply trying to broadly punish the BOR for the firing of Evan Dobelle, although I don't know if he had any relationship with Evan. After all, as Judiciary chairman in the 1980's, he endlessly tortured the chief justice in retaliation for the ouster of Tom "Fat Boy" Okuda and the shutdown of his judiciary lobbying army. The continuing lag in judicial pay still reflects that decades old battle. Given that precedent, this might be the likely scenario.

He could also be putting on a show in order to gain additional leverage with the UH administration in future dealings, sort of that initial sumo charge when entering the ring. Make your opponent fear you and you've won half the battle. Leverage for what? Who knows. Reward your friends? Punish your enemies? We've been there before.

In any case, without any insider perspective I'm just speculating, but the answer is probably to be found in some background politics of this kind. What do you think? Any ideas?

April 25, 2005 - Monday

I was frustrated last week when kitten care trumped court, meaning that I couldn't spring the time to sit in as the case of Scott Yoshinaga v. Honolulu Advertiser went to trial. But a reader provided a report on the court happenings

A mistrial was declared in Scott Yoshinaga's lawsuit against the Honolulu Advertiser. The mistrial came on Friday, April 22, 2005, after Dexter Suzuki, the Advertiser's Director of New Media, spent the whole day on the witness stand.

You might recall from your earlier posting that Scott sued the Advertiser for wrongful termination - the Advertiser fired Scott after he reported the use of pirated software.

The mistrial was caused because the Advertiser's lawyer, Jeffrey Harris, made statements to the jury which the judge had previously ordered could not be said.

Dexter was really bad on the witness stand. Scott's lawyers showed the Dexter was lieing, by showing that his testimony at trial was different that how he testified at his deposition.

I remember that Burl once posted Dexter's deposition on his website, where Dex said that when it came to software piracy, "getting the job done" was of equal importance as "following the law".

I understand that after the mistrial was declared by trial Judge Karen Ahn, the lawyers for Scott and the Advertiser spoke with the jury.

The jury said that Dexter looked bad, and the Advertiser looked like it had illegally fired Scott.

I heard that the Guild rep Wayne Cahill thinks that the Advertiser intentionally caused the mistrial, because the trial was going so badly for the Advertiser.

Morale is hurting because of the case. Advertiser managers got court orders to appear to testify and they are all on pins and needles.

All this with Susan Clark-Johnson, head of Gannett's Pacific Newspaper Group, comming to Honolulu in May to review the Advertiser's operations.

Judge Karen Ahn set a new two-week trial to begin February 21, 2006.

The VEBA-related bill (HB 1608) mentioned yesterday will be discussed again in conference committee today at the Legislature and may be close to final passage as John Radcliffe predicted. I can't help recalling how vulnerable earlier union insurance plans were to the skimming that put former UPW head Gary Rodrigues on the wrong side of a federal jury. So this move to reauthorize these independent plans, and the regular flow of cash they represent, would make me want to take a closer look at this proposal.

We're discovering that weaning partially hand-raised kittens is no picnic. Here's the little black kitten in a photo taken yesterday. She's the first one to eat from a dish. Well, "eat" describes part of the process, but she hasn't quite figured out the proper approach. Right now she just dives in and slurps what she can while the other two mew around and look puzzled.

click for larger photo

April 24, 2005 - Sunday

It's been a bad morning, techno-wise. I had today's entry ready to go before 6 a.m., uploaded, and found it turned to mush, formatting scrambled, etc. A quick emergency scan failed to turn up the culprit code, so repairs had to wait until after our walk. So here I am, two hours later, finally getting online. But better late than, well, whatever.

John Radcliffe, associate executive director of the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly, responded to Friday's entry about the "make it come out right" interview question with tongue firmly in cheek:

Ian,

He phrased the question wrong. It is supposed to go: "What's on the 3rd floor of building Six and why are numbers, and not names, assigned to these buildings, and why does Manoa not accept transfer credits equitably? Please try to answer efficiently. A simple "Yes," "No," or "I am terribly sorry" will suffice."

Actually, the very best interview of this kind that I recall, came in the movie, Three Kings, where the Iraqis had kidnapped Marky Mark Wohlberg and wired his head, jaws and ears up to car battery and wind-up telephone torture device and then the interrogator quietly asked him:

"So, my main man---what's all this about Michael Jackson?"

Now that is hard to answer.

John's comment prompted me to check out what else has been happening over at UHPA. A quick check of their web site and a report of their March board meeting turned up this interesting bit of legislative gossip:

• Associate Executive Director Radcliffe, who serves on the Employer-Union Trust Fund Board of Trustees, reported that the Hawaii State Teachers Association (HSTA), which had their own alternative health member benefits program, the Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association (VEBA), until the law passed in 2001 that took away the rights to have alternative health programs is still working to get it back. The HSTA has relentlessly lobbied to have a bill passed each year since 2001 and has made it THE political litmus test for that union. It looks like a bill will pass this year, but the Governor may veto it. If it is vetoed, the Legislature may go into special session to attempt to override the Governor's actions. Should this pass, it will probably cost all others more money, as it would affect the rest of the system. The bill is being "sold" as a pilot program but it does not have any pilot parameters, or supervised monitoring, or any other aspects, which can be evaluated.

Readers who harbor images of a monolithic labor movement should pay attention to these indicators of conflicts and cross-pressures. If there were more regular labor reporting to inform the public about the actual issues facing organized labor, it would be harder to cast the imagined vast union "conspiracy" as the favorite political bogeyman of our day.

Radcliffe's report also noted: "This Session will no doubt end in a political stalemate and it is already clear that the Legislature will very likely convene itself in Special Session to deal with gubernatorial vetoes in the Summer."

The three recently rescued kittens are doing just fine, thank you. I'm shifting them to a three-meals a day schedule after more frequent sittings this past week. It's hard to get good pictures since they are constantly in motion, the light in their room isn't good, and my hands are busy with baby bottle and paper towels. But just click on the photo for a few more.

click me!

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